Twitter signs up for Do Not Track

Twitter has signed up to the US Federal Trade Commission's Do Not Track (DNT) initiative and now offers its users the chance to avoid having their data shared with third parties.

Twitter announced the move with a Tweet which says, in part, "We applaud the FTC's leadership on DNT."

A new Twitter page explaining the ramifications of the decision says "When you turn on DNT in your browser, we stop collecting the information that allows us to tailor Twitter based on your recent visits to websites that have integrated our buttons or widgets. Specifically, we remove from your browser the unique cookie that links your browser to visits to websites in the Twitter ecosystem. We then cannot provide tailored suggestions for you."

FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz thinks Twitter is being jolly nice, and told an Internet privacy forum in New York that Twitter's decision to clamber aboard the DNT bandwagon gives it a nice momentum and credibility boost.

Mozilla is also happy about the decision, blogging that it is “... excited that Twitter now supports Do Not Track and global user adoption rates continue to increase, which signifies a big step forward for Do Not Track and the Web.”

Twitter has also updated its Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. The changes were publicised eight hours after the news of Twitter signing up for DNT and are, a Twitter spokesperson said, a direct result of the DNT decision.

"One of the main changes we made to the Privacy Policy was that we noted the many ways you can set your preferences to limit, modify or remove the information we collect," the spokesperson said. ®